Tien Giang scraps paper project due to pollution concerns

Tien Giang scraps paper project due to pollution concerns By Trung Chanh The road to Long Giang Industrial Park, where the Dai Duong paper plant was expected to be built – PHOTO: TRUNG CHANH CAN THO – The Tien Giang government has revoked a US$220-million paper mill license from Taiwan’s Dai Duong Paper Production Co., Ltd, owing to the high pollution risk. Nguyen Thanh Liem, deputy head of the provincial Industrial Zones Management Board, told the Saigon Times that the province had withdrawn the investment certificate of the paper plant project, and the problem related to the land rent had also been solved. “Generally, everything has been completed,” Liem stressed. The Dai Duong paper plant could cause environmental pollution in the area and affect its economic development, Liem said in explaining the reason for the revocation. The Industrial Zones Management Board of Tien Giang Province on March 15, 2016 granted an investment certificate to Dai Duong Company to build a paper factory worth US$220 million. The plant, covering a total of 227,530 square meters of land at Long Giang Industrial Park in the Mekong Delta province, was expected to produce Duplex and Kraf paper as well as products for household use. The facility was scheduled to come on stream in August 2017. However, the provincial government’s approval of the project met with stiff objections from experts based on the manufacturing operations carrying a high risk of pollution. Associate Professor Dr. Le Trinh, vice chairman of the Vietnam Association of Environmental… [Read full story]